The Heart of the World A Journey to Tibet's Lost Paradise /anglais Paperback – July 15, 2020

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is a combination adventure story, philosophical treatise, personal search for meaning in life, and a wonderful book about indigenous Tibetans. I think this is one of the few books that I have read that I will read again, because I know there is more I will get out of it. Ian Baker's many attempts to "discover" the hidden waterfalls on the Tsangpo river form the core of the book, but he is also searching for the truth behind many of the myths of local Tibetan Buddhist beliefs in the Tsangpo region. He leads expeditions with a colorful character list eccentric westerners, and has dealings with Buddhist lamas, local hunters, Chinese bureaucrats, and more. A great read!

My copy, an apparently earlier edition, has the subtitle of 'A Journey to the Last Secret Place' and I was going to entitle this review 'A Journey to the Doorway to the Last Secret Place' but I see that this newer edition has the subtitle of 'A Journey to Tibet's Lost Paradise' and that is in the end a better and truer title. I loved this book but knew it wasn't going to end with a visit to any fabled city of Shangri-La or anything out of a Hollywood movie. Still, my one qualm had been that the journey stopped short of reaching the previous edition's ambitious subtitle. The impressive and wondrously spiritual journey stops right at the very secret door to the tunnel to the secret sacred paradise. Now surely it is clear that if such a place should truly exist, its doorway would not in fact be the last secret place! Oh well, while I would have loved for Ian Baker to have built a bridge and scaled the wall and by some miraculous means made his way over the door and either proven it was nothing more than a hole in the rock or that it does indeed lead to a mythic paradise beyond all earthly measure, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. But I know, really the journey itself is the tunnel and the portal is the mirror which makes the journey from this sacred place truly a new journey of exploration in this new paradise, which to us lesser folk is just our base world invisibly transformed. But that doesn't solve the conundrum with the subtitle either because then the last secret place is everywhere the author goes after the book is ended! But anyway, my qualm is solved by the new subtitle, so never mind. Highly recommended for the spiritual adventurist who perhaps just became a dad and can't be running off to Tibet to see things for himself. For those who want less adventure and more dharma, read Buddhism with an Attitude by B. Alan Wallace.

And you thought Shambala didn't exist! This was a great, real-life, modern-day adventure story! The book is entertaining on several levels; Ian reveals much of the enigmatic history and culture of Tibetan Buddhism, gives a great overview of the late 19th century search for the fabled falls of the Tsangpo river, and his personal account of several expeditions to find those same falls in the late 20th century. He presents his quest in both physical and spiritual contexts with an entertaining and sincere style. It's remarkable that there was still such a hard-to-reach, virtually untouched segment of the world left to be explored at the end of the 20th century! Excellent book!

I'm really getting into the detail that he provides, especially about the mountains and forests and creatures and challenges. Some of it is pretty scary. But it makes me obsessed with wanting to go to that area one day. Really liking this book.

Baker’s exploration of the Tsangpo and its environs is amongst the most spectacular adventures of our time. He expertly captures the mystical and empirical realms of the Pemago unhinging our concepts of what lies within and without. Although the harrowing descriptions of the arduous trekking are somewhat copious he interweaves his expansive knowledge with insightful Buddhist wisdom and Tibetan lore. My dreams were infused with jungles, cliffs, glaciers and dakinis, lamas and the wild of unbounded realization for the entirety of the book.

A well written accounting of the trials and triumphs of exploration. This book seizes the reader with its narrative of lands discovered, lost and unattainable.

Very bad quality printing, photographies worse!

Book is awesome, a masterpiece by the Indiana Jones of Vajrayana.The font is tiny and paper grey, could not read it in my reading specs.

Zowel spannend als spiritueel pad door Tibet.

Inspirational and courageous and unique exploration into the unknown- beautifully, authentically and intelligently written.

I've read this book in the hard cover version and I really loved it. Therefore I've bought the paperback as a gift for a friend. Hard to describe how sad it made me to see this wonderful text in this careless outlay. It looks like a cheap xero-copy with a cut margin and trully terrible layout. If you want to enjoy it I recommend to buy a hard copy.